Mindful choices for healthy and low sodium cooking

I am a creature of habit. I find something that works, does not make me sick to my stomach, makes me feel full, and I am happy to eat it every day. For some odd reason, my new habit became a poached egg over baby greens for breakfast. You don’t need oil to make a dressing, the creaminess of the poached egg creates a rich dressing to the salad.

What is also nice about this is the speed of which you make it. It takes only a few minutes to cook the egg and you don’t have to waste time with having oil emulsify in a dressing. The protein keeps you full, and of course I have to add Sriracha, which to my surprise only has 100mg sodium per serving. SCORE!

Here’s what I use:

1 serving of baby mixed greens

splash of champagne vinegar

1 egg poached in water and white vinegar

fresh ground pepper

Sriracha

Heat water until boiling with about 1/4 cup of white vinegar in a small pan or deep edged pot, (enough to submerge the egg). Reduce head to a rolling simmer and cook the egg in the water for 3-4 minutes. NOTE: this makes a soft boiled egg. I personally do a double transfer to make sure the egg is drained well. You can remove it with a slotted spoon, place it on a small dish to further drain, and then transfer it to your salad. I bet there is a professional way to do this that does not add extra dishes, but this has worked best for me.

Sprinkle the greens with the champagne vinegar, add the egg, freshly cracked pepper, and enough Sriracha to make you happy. The yolk of the eggs blends with the greens and hot sauce to create a creamy dressing.

I found this wonderful recipe about a year ago and it has become a staple in our house. Thank you to FoodNetwork.com and Danny Boone for the recipe. I made some alterations to satisfy my absolute love of all things jalapeño, but the base of it is pretty much the same.

I LOVE tortilla soup, but tortillas often have a lot of sodium content to them. Using them as a topping works perfectly for this wonderful, flavorful, and filling soup. Low sodium chicken stock helps keep the salt low, and you can also make your own stock using a sofrito base that adds flavor, but reduces sodium.

Here’s what you will need:

1 yellow onion

6-8 cloves garlic (minced)

3-4 jalapeños

1 can fire roasted tomatoes (14.5oz)

1 can low sodium black beans (drained)

6 cups of low sodium chicken stock (or homemade stock)

2 large chicken breasts

2-3 limes

avocado

cilantro

jack cheese

tortillas

Finely chop the onion and add it to 1T of cooking oil. Cook the onions for about 2 minutes. Finely chop the garlic and jalapeños and add these to the onions. Cook for another couple of minutes.

Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, and black beans and bring to a boil. When the soup comes to a boil reduce to medium and add in your chicken breast. Cook for at least 20-25 minutes or until the chicken breast is tender and easy to shred.

Remove the chicken breast from the soup and shred with a fork. Place the chicken in the base of the soup bowls and squeeze 1/2 lime on top of each serving.

Ladle soup over the chicken and top with chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, slices of tortilla, and jack cheese. Use the remaining lime to slice and serve with the soup.

I was a HUGE salt fan, and what I loved about this recipe was both how simple it was, but that also with the strong flavors of the spice and citrus, I didn’t miss the saltiness at all.

My recipe has been adapted from the original due to my love of spicy food and garlic, but you can adjust to your taste. I hope that you enjoy this soup as much as I do!